A three-game winning streak was nice and all, but the real test was coming last week for Eupora in a matchup with Calhoun City.
The Eagles haven’t beaten the Wildcats since 2012 in a football game and fans have to go back to 2009 to find a regular season win in the matchup. This Eupora team has been playing on a different level, however.
After falling behind early, Eupora rallied and turned on the jets in the fourth quarter to go down the road and take away a win from the home team. A 30-18 final made for a happy community and has Eupora right in the thick of the district championship hunt.
“I think it was just the effort of the kids and assistant coaches for sticking with the plan and believing in what we do and what we’re capable of,” Brad Gray, coach, said. “We’ve seen flashes of that in a lot of places a lot of times. I keep staying on the guys on working together and worrying about things that we can take care of.”
Just taking care of themselves wasn’t the focus of the team early as Gray thought they got away from his message early. Calhoun City came out for most of the first and second quarter and controlled the game.
The Wildcats got two scores on the first couple of possessions to break out to a 12-0 lead and were looking like they were ready to rout the game. Eupora would buckle down; however, and the defense gave them a chance.
“We talked all week about not worrying about the team we’re playing and worrying about ourselves, and we came out and that’s exactly what we did,” Gray said. “We were kind of on our heels and once we got settled in, we were in good shape. You have to give coach (Alex) Rawls and the defensive staff credit for settling in on defense. We scored right before the half, and the message at the half was that it was on us to execute.”
With 34 seconds remaining in the quarter, Eupora scored a touchdown and a 2-point conversion and made it 12-8 at the half. It was game on from there.
The momentum from that first half continued in the third quarter with a quick score from the Eagles and a 2-point conversion for the lead, but that lead was brief as CCHS would drive down the field and score on the following drive to make it 18-16. Heading into the final quarter, Eupora would shut down the Wildcats on the defensive side of the ball and score again to take the lead with 7:45 left. One more put the game away with under 3 minutes left.
Ty Murphy had another huge game as he continues a season to remember at quarterback. He rushed 25 times for 200 yards and three more touchdowns and also was 8-of-11 for 153 yards and a score. Mark Pittman had one catch but had 70 of those yards on a touchdown. Tabb Powell had four catches for 54 yards.
Leading the charge in the strong defensive effort was sophomore Elijah Wofford who racked up 16 tackles and had 3.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, and even an interception as he flew around on that side of the ball. AJ Shelton had a sack as well and 3.0 sacks to go along with nine tackles. The defense had 11.0 tackles for loss in the win.
After the victory, Eupora immediately turned its attention to Choctaw County. Eupora verses Ackerman was one of the state’s most fierce rivalries years ago, but that rivalry diminished a bit when the latter school consolidated with Weir to make up CCHS. Now that the two teams are playing in the same district, it is getting a bit of its luster back.
The Chargers started the year 1-4 but just started Region 2 play with a bang in a blowout win over East Webster.
“Choctaw County is definitely a team that will jump off the film at you. They’re big everywhere, they’re very fast and have a lot of players,” Gray said. “They have around 27 seniors and 72 kids on the team. They played some bigger schools and haven’t had the ball bounce their way. They had a week off and they’ve gotten back down to the basics, and I think they’re getting less complex and bringing the ball at you in the hands of playmakers.”
This Friday’s game has huge implications for both teams. The winner will stay undefeated and move into the driver’s seat for the district title. Eupora has a chance to get to within one win of claiming a title.
Gray said in order to do that, they’ve got to play better. That’s actually an encouraging sign for a team that has won four in a row and now sits at 5-2 on the year and 2-0 in district play.
“We haven’t gotten all that we can get out of our team just yet. The story on us is that you’ve got to stop (Murphy). We’ve got several skill guys that are capable of doing some things,” Gray said. “The challenge this week is to clean up what we do and focus on us. You see glimpses each week with a guy showing up here and there, but they’ve got to show up Monday-Thursday and consistently show up.”
